MORE HEADACHE FOR PCOC AS DIRECTOR COULD TAKE THE FALL
The Lakeland Ledger is reporting this morning yet another embarassing situation for the Polk County Opportunity Council, the area's community action agency which provides services for low income residents and is best known as Polk County's primary Head Start provider.
Seems as though one of the members of PCOC's Board of Directors has called for the dismissal of Executive Director Carolyn Speed for signing a contract with a lawn care company to provide services at PCOC's administration building in Bartow at $400 a month. Ms. Speed claims it was necessary because the agency employee assigned to lawn care duties was injured.
So what's the problem?
Ms. Speed was apparantly not authorized to sign such agreements. PCOC's facilities are actually owned by the Heartland Economic Development Authority. PCOC formed HEDA during the mid 1980s when Head Start agencies were barred from owning property. HEDA has it's own executive director, who would have been authorized to enter into such agreements, so what Ms. Speed did was a huge no-no.
A committee will be formed to review the situation. While I wish that PCOC's board of directors would all resign and allow the agency to "start over" with a clean slate, let's hope that at least they don't go into their usual modus operandi of playing defense.
1 Comments:
Robert,
I wanted to thank you for nominating me for appointment as at-large DEC member. Currently I am only nominated. I hope the 10/10/05 (my birthday) DEC minutes are corrected. Richard Blank, at-large member, who I defeated as Precinct 323 Committeeperson and Mark Hopkins, at-large member, had interest in chair. I resigned to make Richard Blank the committeeperson for Precinct 323 and eligible as elected committeeperson to be candidate for chair and elected. I asked at the 10/10/05 DEC meeting prior to resigning about the "PROPOSED BYLAWS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA" document provided to me by Polk County DEC Secretary, Barbara Stampfl just prior to the 10/10/05 DEC Meeting to be sure of me complying with Florida Democratic Party Bylaws and any Polk County DEC Bylaws. I hope we see copy of not just proposed copy soon. Mark Hopkins, not eligible, stated he was flattered to be asked to be chair but would like to decline. He inquired if Ian Reynolds, who was the elected committeeperson in Richard Blank's precinct, would resign, that would resolve the matter. I resigned as Precinct 323 Committeeperson, not because of ineligible candidate request, but because I asked all elected committeepersons present to raise hands and sensed from comment about who all the eligible voters as elected committeepersons wanted as chairperson and commented about all wanting Richard Blank and I resigned for that reason. We will see what happens in regard to question asked about any corrections needed in the 10/10/05 Polk County DEC meeting minutes in November. Us, grassroots voters, need to get back to control by workers, not capitalist owners.
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